On the fringe of the pristine and exclusive Augusta National Golf Club, up at the intersection of Washington and Berkmans, the buzz and excitement builds with every one of the eventually exhausting thousands and thousands of footsteps it takes to get down the hill and through the gates. Walking around the practice rounds of the Augusta National this year requires comfortable shoes, light clothing, a lot of sunblock and plenty of water, as the high is forecast to hit 91. Today is Wednesday of Masters Week, a day known as “par 3 day,” because at 1pm, many of the professional pitching wedge experts will partake in a festive and loose tradition, the day before this revered tournament begins. Unknown to everyone right now is whether the big elephant in the room of this year’s Masters, a 4 time champion named Tiger, will join in the fun. All week long, getting detailed information about Woods’ whereabouts and practice round intentions has been challenging. He practiced with Mark O’Meara Tuesday, who at the end of the day said Woods’ game was getting sharper as the week progressed; not surprisingly, with the intimidation factor of his first round of golf in front of hundreds of spectators in nearly 5 months Monday, onlookers said Woods looked rusty. Woods will tee off Thursday at 1:42 Eastern Time, grouped with 1997 US Amateur Champion Matt Kuchar and South Korean golfor Kyung-Ju Choi, who has 7 PGA wins in his bag. The group’s tee time Friday is 10:35am Eastern, and after those first 2 rounds, the Augusta National will eliminate those who don’t make the weekend cut and assign Saturday’s tee times and groupings for when the US television audience for this Masters is projected to be record-setting for this tournament (and possibly near “Super Bowl” hights) IF, that is, IF Tiger Woods is in the hunt. The expected spectacle of his former mistresses showing up in Augusta and regurgitating the sensational sexcapades that have dominated the tabloids and late night monologues since November have yet to arrive, but we’re told, the ladies will be here by the time the really big crowds start arriving. Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg, who along with about 6 off-duty cops and private security agents, has been walking along with Woods’ enterage this week, finally spoke on the record about what he did or didn’t know about his most famous client’s secretive and adulterous ways on the tour. Steinberg tells Golf.com that he was unaware of what Woods was doing, adding that he hadn’t said this in nearly 5 months because he believed it would only have perpetuated the story. This, despite a current Vanity Fair expose, in which 4 women who claim they had intimate relations with Woods in hotel rooms and cars told their stories; 2 of them allege that when they needed help or that they feared the affair was about to be exposed, Woods passed them onto Steinberg, who, according to the women, extinguished the potential explosion of publicity. Now that Tiger Woods has taken unrestricted questions from the press (primarily the sporting press, as neither this Fox News Correspondent nor anyone else from our “news” team earned a credential) it’s clear that Team Woods hopes the media focus will now streamline to his return to professional competition. But a lot can happen alongside these immaculately manicured fairways over the next 4 days. The Masters this year promises to be The Story of the year. We just don’t yet know the full storyline. But Mark Matherson, of Lake Wylie, North Carolina, who now has attended 43 straight Masters Tournaments, tells me he has a headline dancing in his head. “I just hope he wins.”